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Background: Whether older immigrant populations from the Mediterranean region, continue to follow the MD long after they immigrated is not known. Aim: Compare adherence to the MD and successful aging levels between Greeks living in Greece (GG) and Greeks living abroad (GA). Methods: Anthropometrical, clinical, psychological, sociodemographic, dietary and lifestyle parameters were assessed in a cross-sectional manner in a sample of 252 GG and 252 GA. Mediterranean Diet Score (MedDietScore range 0-55) was used to assess adherence to the MD. Successful aging was evaluated with the validated successful aging index (SAI range 0-10). Results: GA presented higher adherence to MD (p < 0.001); they were consuming significantly more cereals, legumes, vegetables, and fruits compared to GG. GG consumed significantly more dairy (3.8 ± 2.9 vs. 1.9 ± 2.2, p < 0.001) and potatoes (2.4 ± 1.6 vs. 1.9 ± 1.5, p < 0.001) compared to GA. Meat (p = 0.27), poultry (p = 0.72), fish (p = 0.68), olive oil (p = 0.16) and alcohol consumption (p = 0.05) were comparable between the two groups (all p's > 0.05). MedDietScore was positively associated with SAI among both groups after adjusting for possible confounders (0.041 ± 0.014, p = 0.003 GG and 0.153 ± 0.035, p < 0.001 GA). Also, legumes, cereals, fruits and vegetables were found to be beneficial for successful aging. Conclusion: Adherence to the MD is associated with higher levels of successful aging among people of the same genetic background living in different environments. However, traditional dietary habits are gradually abandoned in their native countries, when, at the same time, are considered cultural heritage and preserved accordingly among immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction According to 1982 mortality data [1], Greeks in Australia were deemed the 'second longest lived population in the world', after the Japanese in Hawaii [2] and followed closely by [...]

The World Health Organization estimates that around one billion people throughout the world are overweight and that over 300 million of these are obese and if current trends continue, the number of overweight persons will increase to 1.5 billion by 2015. The number of obese adults in Australia is estimated to have risen from 2.0 million in 1992/93 to 3.1 million in 2005. The prevalence of obesity has been increasing due to a convergence of factors - the rise of TV viewing, our preference for takeaway and pre-prepared foods, the trend towards more computer-bound sedentary jobs, and fewer opportunities for sport and physical exercise. Obesity is not only linked to lack of self esteem, social and work discrimination, but also to illnesses such as the metabolic syndrome and hyperinsulinaemia (which increases the risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, fatty liver), cancer, asthma, dementia, arthritis and kidney disease. It has been estimated that the cost of obesity in Australia in 2005 was $1,721 million. Of this amount, $1,084 million were direct health costs, and $637 million indirect health costs (due to lost work productivity, absenteeism and unemployment). The prevalence cost per year for each obese adult has been estimated at $554 and the value of an obesity cure is about $6,903 per obese person. Government efforts at reducing the burden remain inadequate and a more radical approach is needed. The Australian government, for example, has made changes to Medicare so that GPs can refer people with chronic illness due to obesity to an exercise physiologist and dietitian and receive a Medicare rebate, but so far these measures are having no perceptible effect on obesity levels. There is a growing recognition that both Public Health & Clinical approaches, and Private & Public resources, need to be brought to this growing problem. Australian health economist, Paul Gross, from the Institute of Health Economies and Technology Assessment claims there is too much reliance on health workers to treat the problem, especially doctors, who have not been given additional resources to manage obesity outside a typical doctor's consultation. Gross has recommended that further changes should be made to Medicare, private health insurance, and workplace and tax legislation to give people financial incentives to change their behaviour because obesity should not just be treated by governments as a public health problem but also as a barrier to productivity and a drain on resources. A Special Report of the WMCACA (Weight Management Code Administration Council of Australia) (www.weightcouncil.org) on the "Health Economics of Weight Management" has been published in the Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition in September 2006. This report explores the cost benefit analysis of weight management in greater detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

First generation Greek-born Australians (GA) are one of the longest lived populations in the world, despite unfavourable cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, poor self-rated health and functional disabilities. The purpose of this paper is two-fold: to draw attention to the morbidity mortality dissociation using national health and mortality statistics along with supporting data from smaller studies; and to formulate a 'morbidity mortality paradox' hypothesis by re-examining recent and distant past food intake data and lifestyle habits from a study of 104 Greeks in rural Greece, 189 GA and 140 Anglo-Celtic Australians aged 70 years and over. The analysis suggests that the more frequent use of energy dense foods such as sweets and animal foods high in saturated fat (especially in the first 20 years in Australia), plus changes to meal patterns, serving sizes, cooking practices, physical activity and siesta habits may have had a significant impact on the development of obesity, diabetes and CVD in GA. Possible dietary factors contributing to the longevity of GA include: the proportionately high intake and variety of plant foods relative to animal foods; the tendency to return to the traditional Greek food pattern in old age; and the continued high intake of mono-unsaturated fats, n-3 fatty acids and phytochemicals (e.g. lycopene and flavonoids) from the wide variety of plant foods consumed. In particular, the retention of certain putatively protective foods (e.g. fish, legumes, leafy greens, onions, garlic, tomatoes, melons, herbs, olive oil, grapes and wine) may have helped to make the CVD risk factors 'benign'. The influence of Greek cuisine (e.g. vegetables cooked or served with olive oil) on the bio-availability of certain phytochemicals requires further investigation. Possible mechanisms are briefly examined since further studies are needed to substantiate the hypothesis formulated. (Aust J Nutr Diet 1999;56:97-107). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence in support of the beneficial properties of the traditional Greek food pattern (TGFP) has recently become available. In prospective cohort studies of elderly people in rural Greece (n = 182), Greek-born (n = 189) and Anglo-Celtic Australians (n = 141), and Danes in Denmark (n = 202), it was found that adherence to the TGFP was associated with lower overall mortality and longer survival, irrespective of the types of foods consumed within food groups and the mode of food preparation. A higher TGFP score was significantly associated with a sharply reduced risk of death, by 17-23% per one unit increase and by more than 50% per four unit increase in the different cultural settings. Elderly Anglo-Celtic Australians had 80% higher mortality than the elderly Greek-born Australians; 37% of the excess mortality of the Anglo-Celts could be explained in terms of their different dietary habits and specifically their different extent of adherence to the TGFP. The key messages from these studies are: I. a TGFP is beneficial to survival of elderly people; 2. the longevity of Mediterranean people can be explained in part by their varied diet; 3. the overall TGFP is more important for longevity than individual food groups; and 4. similar survival advantage can be obtained by applying the TGFP to other dietary cultures, irrespective of the types of foods consumed and the mode of food preparation. Whether or not further mortality benefit may have been obtained in the non-Greek cohorts if foods were prepared according to Greek cuisine, requires further study. [Aust J Nutr Diet 1998;55(4 Suppl)S20-S23]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the growing concerns regarding the eating habits of the younger generations. Tendency of younger generations to consume fast food and the lack of nutritional value in such food.

In 1987, the International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS) subcommittee on Nutrition and Ageing, in conjunction with the World Health Organization (WHO) global program for the elderly, embarked on the 'Food Habits in Later Life' (FHILL): a cross-cultural study to determine to what extent health, social and lifestyle variables, especially food intake, collectively predict survival amongst long-lived cultures. A total of 818 participants aged 70 years and over were recruited from five IUNS centres. Mortality data were collected after five to seven years. The cohorts included Swedes in Sweden (SWD), Greeks in Greece (GRS) and in Melbourne, Australia (GRM), Anglo-Celts in Australia (ACS) and Japanese in Japan (JPN). Information was obtained on health, lifestyle and diet at baseline. A Cox Proportional Hazard model containing ten potential predictors of survival, adjusted to age at enrollment and ethnicity/locality, was developed to analyse the survival data. Based on up to seven years survival data, it was found that being an elderly Greek in Australia conferred the lowest mortality risk and being an elderly Greek in Greece conferred the highest mortality risk. When the ten potential predictors of survival were entered into the Cox model, the memory score, the Mediterranean diet score, Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and general health status scores showed the greatest effects in significantly reducing mortality hazard ratios by 22%, 13%, 4% and 4%, respectively. For diet score, a one-unit change predicted a significant 13% difference in survival. Of the lifestyle (modifiable) variables entered in the multivariate model, exercise and social activity were not significant predictors of survival suggesting that diet is a more important predictor of survival than these variables. Another lifestyle variable, smoking, significantly increased mortality hazard ratios by 67%, making it a more important predictor of survival than diet. Being male (non-modifiable) also increased risk of death by 63%. Diet, particularly the Mediterranean Diet, operates irrespective and together with other factors as an appreciable contributor to survival, with a strength comparable to or greater than all other measured variables. The independence and strength of the predictiveness of food pattern for survival, and for this to be cross-cultural from Europe to Asia is a novel and important observation for food and health policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Knowledge of traditional African foods and food habits has been, and continues to be, systematically extirpated. With the primary intent of collating data for our online collection documenting traditional African foods and food habits (available at: www.healthyeatingclub.com/Africa/), we reviewed the Oltersdorf Collection, 75 observational investigations conducted throughout East Africa (i.e. Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda) between the 1930s and 1960s as compiled by the Max Planck Nutrition Research Unit, formerly located in Bumbuli, Tanzania.Methods: Data were categorized as follows: (1) food availability, (2) chemical composition, (3) staple foods (i.e. native crops, cereals, legumes, roots and tubers, vegetables, fruits, spices, oils and fats, beverages, and animal foods), (4) food preparation and culture, and (5) nutrient intake and health status indicators.Results: Many of the traditional foods identified, including millet, sorghum, various legumes, root and tubers, green leafy vegetables, plant oils and wild meats have known health benefits. Food preparatory practices during this period, including boiling and occasional roasting are superior to current practices which favor frying and deep-frying. Overall, our review and data extraction provide reason to believe that a diversified diet was possible for the people of East Africa during this period (1930s-1960s).Conclusions: There is a wealth of knowledge pertaining to traditional East African foods and food habits within the Oltersdorf Collection. These data are currently available via our online collection. Future efforts should contribute to collating and honing knowledge of traditional foods and food habits within this region, and indeed throughout the rest of Africa. Preserving and disseminating this knowledge may be crucial for abating projected trends for non-communicable diseases and malnutrition in Africa and abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This publication features the papers presented at the Australasian Clinical Nutrition Society symposium on October 2, 1998. It covers a range of topics including the scientific basis of the healthy Mediterranean diet, the effect of dietary intervention in the prevention of coronary heart disease, and the link between traditional Greek food pattern and overall survival in elderly people.